The video begins and we see a scenic background the likes of which we’re not used to seeing in these videos. The scene behind almost looks too good to be true! There’s a little snow on the ground, but not much. There’s a beautiful lake in the background surrounded by trees in every direction. And standing a few feet from the camera, wrapped up warm, stands Syren as she looks out over the lake before turning back to the camera. “Hey guys, do you like the view? It’s breath-taking, isn’t it?” she asks before letting out a contented little sigh. “Looking at this view right now, breathing in the clean air and looking around at all the beauty makes me realise just how much I needed a break from everything this week. Let me start off with an apology though. I want to apologise to anyone in Baton Rouge, Tupelo or Biloxi who came out last week hoping to see me because, as you guys probably noticed, I wasn’t there. After what happened to me on Breakdown last week, which I’ll get to in a little bit, I wasn’t medically cleared to compete and so with everything that’s gone on lately I needed to just get away from everything, you know? I needed to take off and put everything behind me, and somehow I wound up here. So I’m sorry guys, I promise I’ll make it up to you. I don’t really know how yet, but I swear the next time I’ll be there and I’ll give you all a show that you’ll never forget.”

She smiles apologetically at the camera again before taking a deep breath. “Right now however I can’t focus on that, because right now I have so much more to focus on. And let’s start with last week. Once again I went to Breakdown last week hoping for an end to the controversy. I got a little bit of that, I suppose. We found out, for example, the fate of Kelcey Wallace after she kicked Mr D in the face. I’ve got to say that I was a little surprised by his reaction. Turns out he’s a bigger person than I am because if it was me I would not have been so forgiving. In fact, if you want to know the truth, I’m not sure I am quite as forgiving as him. I haven’t forgotten that that kick was meant for me. I haven’t forgotten that that kick was meant to take me out from behind. I haven’t forgotten that and in truth I’m not sure I will for a good long while. But, with that said, I’m not going to cry about what happened. I’ve got so much more to focus on right now, but I just want you guys to know that I haven’t forgotten,” she says with a nod before point to her eyes. “There’s something else I haven’t forgotten as well and that’s what happened last week. Now, along with looking for answers last week, I went to Breakdown with another purpose in mind. I went to Breakdown to get even with the guy who cost me the SCW World Championship a few weeks ago. Instead of getting my revenge however I got myself injured when that same guy who pushed me off the top turnbuckles last week tried to drive his fingers into my eyes.”

“I’m not going to lie, that was a terrifying experience,” she says honestly before rubbing her right eye with her right hand and hesitating for a moment. “I’ve had a lot of things happen to me in the ring before now. I’ve fought just about every type of match I thought imaginable. I’ve been knocked off of ladders, thrown into steel cages — I’ve still not forgotten how it felt to be picked off my feet after being powerbombed to hell, twice, and hurled effortlessly into the metal supports of the pod in an elimination chamber head first. Moments like that make you realise no matter how tough you think you are those matches are dangerous, life-threatening environments to be in — and I’ve had literal psychopaths trying to end my career but I’ve never had an experience like I had last week with Dante McCaffery trying to blind me! And there were more than a few moments last week that I wasn’t sure I was going to get away. I won’t say anything clichéd like my career flashed before my eyes or anything like that, I don’t think there was actually the time for that before I finally got him off of me, but I will tell you it was one of the most terrifying experiences I’ve ever been through, and the truth is that I needed a few days after that to come to terms with what ALMOST happened to me. I’m used to being jumped from behind by people who want to make their name off of me, but I’ve never had anything quite like that happen to me before, and it was… eye-opening.”

She laughs at her own choice of words. “After all of that happened, and after I got a bit of distance from everything, I realised the mistakes I made last week. I don’t think I exactly took Dante lightly, I mean I knew I was in for a fight, but I definitely didn’t get into that ring appreciating how dangerous he truly was. That’s a mistake I won’t be making again. And we still have unfinished business, Dante. You cost me the World Championship. You tried to gouge out my eyes. Believe me, as tough as you might be and as small a player in this overall game as you might be there is no way that I’m forgetting what you’ve done to me. Next time we meet in that ring we’re going to settle things between us and I’m going to keep my promise when it comes to sending a message to all Kennedy’s cronies by dropping you on your face,” she promises completely sincerely but this time not with the anger she displayed last week, not letting the frustration control her as it had done, but rather in a calm and steady tone that seemed designed to let him, and everyone else, know how serious she was. “But this week you get another chance to make a name for yourself, and I’m going to be watching that one closely. Dante McCaffery versus Regan Street in the first round in Dallas, and I don’t think fifteenth seed really does Dante justice, but something tells me that it's going to take a little more than the threat of eye-gouging to take Regan off her game.”

She laughs before nodding her head. “But while it’s not Dante I’m focused on this week it seems that I just can’t escape Kennedy’s minions, huh? Because this week I make my first round debut in the Best of the Best tournament and my opponent is none other than another Punk Hazard member, another lapdog doing someone else’s bidding, and another individual I get the feeling is coming to Seattle not to try his hand at wrestling me but looking for a fight,” she says, a smile forming across her face. “Well, if Rudo wants a fight it would be rude of me not to give him one, wouldn’t it? And that’s exactly what I intend to do on Thursday. You see the last few weeks I’ve been frustrated. The last few weeks I’ve been angry. The last few weeks I’ve felt like the entire world has been against me, and can you really blame me for that? Robbed of the World title at Retribution, attacked by Jake Starr on Breakdown, barely escaped the following week from another Jake Starr attack after he got himself disqualified, cost the World title in my rematch at Flawless, and then last week almost had my eyes ripped out of my skull. Yah, I’ve had a rough few weeks to be sure. And if you want the truth then I was letting all of that get on top of me before. I was letting it all get in my head. But that was before I came here. That was before I took a break from the crazy. That was before I got a little perspective. And that was before I realised what I have to do.”

“My career has been defined by some incredible moments spanning almost six years in this company,” she says with pride as she looks into the camera again. “Ever since I burst on to the scene and I beat Gigi Steward and Taylor Summers to establish myself in the Women’s division, and then beat Gigi a second time to win the Women’s title for the first time, I’ve been creating career defining and life changing moments on a regular basis. You’ve seen a whole lot of those highlights replayed again and again in video montages and even the opening packages for events over the years, and as time has moved along so have I. I’ve gone from redefining the Women’s division and breaking every record imaginable to dominating the tag team division and, once again, breaking every record imaginable. Dark Fantasy started a trend of all-female tag teams that seem to dominate the tag division now but before us that had never happened before. I’ve blazed a trail in my own special way and nothing has meant more to me than the three separate times I got to lift the richest prize in this business over my head and call myself the SCW World Champion. The fact is I want a fourth time, and I will get a fourth time, but as much as my career has been defined by those special moments that last a lifetime it’s been defined by the crushing moments as well, the moments that I’ve had it all ripped away from me and been left with nothing.”

“As much as I love to talk about the Breakdown following Rise to Greatness in 2012 and my victory over three former World Champions in the same night to announce myself as the number one contender, and shortly thereafter the interim World Champion, I don’t like talking about what happened later in December when Thirteen took advantage of my use of the Trios Contract to include him, and Christian Savior, in the match that night to make it the biggest match imaginable. I’d retained the title against Thirteen before, but I didn’t do it in the way I wanted to. I didn’t defeat him conclusively. I felt like that would hang over me forever unless I did something about it, so I stepped up to the plate and I paid for it,” she says before laughing to herself. “Not the first time I’ve done that either. A few years earlier I did the same thing, although admittedly that time it didn’t involve a Trios Contract, it just involved agreeing to give two jumped up former World Champions a shot at the World Tag Team titles when they’d done nothing to deserve it only to then watch helplessly as they were taken from us. But that’s what I do, you see. When a challenge comes along I step up, and as much as I’m proud of every time I’ve stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park there have been times when I’ve swung and I’ve struck out and I’ve been forced to slink away and lick my wounds. Thirteen was one of them, Shilo Valiant was another. But do you want to know what connects those two events?”

She smiles before holding out her arms and turning around slowly, tilting her head up and screaming out in to the wilderness. “I’M STILL HERE,” she screams and the sound of her voice echoes back from the surroundings. She laughs as the echo fades out and she nods toward the camera. “I’m still here. That’s what connects those events. I may have struck out but I made damn sure that the next time there was someone on the mound ready to pitch I was back on home base with bat in hand ready to swing for the fences again. THAT is what defines me as much as anything else in this business. THAT is what defines me as much as every victory ever has. For almost six years I’ve been picking myself up, for almost six years I’ve been dusting myself off, and I’ve never faltered, I’ve never hid, when the time came to step up and prove myself I’ve done so over and over again! THAT is what defines me as a person. THAT is what defines me not just as a wrestler but also as a main event athlete. That is why I’ve never gone away, and no matter how far I’ve fallen that is why I’ve always climbed back up. Just recently I’ve been knocked down all over again. Just recently I’ve been struggling. I’m not where I want to be. I don’t have the opportunity I want to have. I don’t get to raise that title over my head right now and I want to do that more than anything in this world. I want to do that and I WILL do that again, I promise you that.”

She has a passion and determination in her voice as she proudly makes that promise to the camera. “That is what defines me as a competitor and that is why I meant it on the day that I first told the fans that I was the BEST FEMALE WRESTLER IN THE WORLD, and why I’ve been proving it every damn day since. You see for me second place has never been enough. For me, and in this business, runner up is just the first loser. And that’s the attitude I take in to the ring every time I get in there, and the attitude I’ll be taking in to that ring in Seattle this Thursday when I look to bounce back from my recent problems and I look to take this tournament by storm,” she says with an excitement and energy about her. “Now I know it won’t be easy. God knows it’s NEVER easy. I’ve been here before after all. Ok, so I’ve never been a part of a tournament like this before, but then again SCW have never DONE a tournament like this before. This is a first for all of us. This is a game-changing moment. But I have stood readying myself for tournaments before. I’ve mentioned a few of them already. The 2012 one-night number one contendership tournament. That was only EIGHT people, but it was one hell of a competition. Eight winners from Rise to Greatness! Eight top-tier competitors battling for the contendership to the richest prize in the business! Eight champions willing to do whatever it took to take the next step and earn themselves a shot. The eight of us all believed in ourselves. The eight of us all backed ourselves. And of the eight of us, only I walked away with the victory.”

She smiles so very proudly. “That was the biggest night of my life up to that point. That was the launching point for a whole new part of my career. That was the night that Syren went from ‘tag team wrestler’ and ‘Women’s champion’ to MAIN EVENT MEGASTAR, and now there’s sixty-four different people lining up hoping for the exact same thing to happen to them,” she says, that bubbly excitement still coming out of her. “This tournament is GOING to change careers. This tournament is GOING to open doors for people. Make no mistake about it guys, even for the people who don’t go all the way to the end, even for the ones who don’t make it to that final finishing line, this tournament is going to be a springboard for SO many people to make their marks in this company, whether that’s newcomers looking to upset the status quo or old veterans looking to show that they’ve more than still got it. And look who it’s attracted. EVERY active competitor in SCW has lined up for this one, and so have a whole bunch who haven’t been around here for a long, long time. Nicole Kinneck is back. Anthony Wallace is back. The Real Speed is back! Can you believe that? Can you actually believe we’re going to get to see The Real Speed in action this week? We will. More than that though is depending on how it goes for the old veteran in the first round this week, and assuming I can overcome El Rudo like I plan to do, I could be fighting him on Thursday.”

She grins excitedly. “There aren’t many people I get excited about fighting anymore, mostly because I feel like I’ve been there and done that with so many around here before, but Syren against the Real Speed genuinely excites me. That would be a tournament match that I would love to have, and an opponent I would love to prove myself against,” she says proudly. “And that’s just on Thursday, you know? That’s not even THINKING about the weekend. If I even survive to the weekend, and there’s no guarantee that I will, that’s when things get even more intense. The semi-finals in Seattle are potentially stacked. Rachel Foxx, Christy Matthews, ASAP Scrappy and Freddie Collins, we all likely have a favourite we could pick amongst them but yet there’s no way of knowing who will make it through when the tournament kicks off. And in the other half of the brackets just think of the potential. We could see Shot of Adrenaline rematches. We could see dream matches happening just for a place in the next round. Everyone is already looking at Selena Frost and Red Rayne, and why wouldn’t they be? They’re the number two and number three seeds, both with so much to prove. But if you ask me there’s a guy in that half of the bracket that I think is woefully undervalued and that’s Simon Lyman. Seriously, Simon Lyman is only seeded seventh? That shows you the STRENGTH of this bracket! That shows you the quality on display this week in Seattle. And it shows you the challenge we have ahead.”

“You see I could seriously stand here and I could make a case for every person in this bracket walking away with it. I could tell you why I think Angelina Jones is a legitimate threat not just to this bracket but to the entire damn tournament, especially after everything she did in the Shot of Adrenaline tournament, or why I would love for it to be Red Rayne who makes it all the way to the final if I’m the one standing there trying to stop her from winning in Seattle,” she says with a smile on her face. “I haven’t forgotten what she did to me, I haven’t forgotten getting kicked in the jaw back in October, I haven’t forgotten yet another moment I got robbed of thanks to yet another attack on me by someone outside of my match. And sure, we faced off at Total War, we fought on opposite sides, and I considered that more than a measure of revenge back then, but I haven’t forgotten and I’d love nothing more than the chance to even the score. You see what I mean? This bracket — all the brackets, actually — is stacked with excitement, and I’m standing on the precipice right now knowing that I may not make it to the finals, that I may not make it through the first few rounds, that I may get knocked down again, that recent history has shown me I’ll have to keep looking over my shoulder every moment just to make sure I’m prepared for the next sneak attack, and yet I’m still standing, I’m still ready, and on Thursday night I’m still jumping right in.”

“The pressure’s on my shoulders. I’ve got the number one seed. Everyone is expecting me to deliver. I’M expecting me to deliver! Do you think I want to fail in this thing? Hell no, I want to walk out of the Seattle bracket with my head held high and head in to the next stage on Breakdown ready and willing to fight whoever comes next. But I know that that won’t be easy, I know that there is so much hunger in this tournament, and yet come Thursday night I’ll still be standing there ready to go,” she says, a smile spreading across her face again as she nods to the camera. “You see it’s really this simple: I’m not hard to find. If you guys want to knock me down, if you guys want to take me out of this thing, if you guys want to make your name by beating me in this tournament and proving why it’s you, not me, who should be calling yourself the BEST OF THE BEST then don’t talk about it, don’t tweet about it, don’t whisper it in the locker room or gossip about it behind my back. If you want to knock me out of this tournament, if you think you CAN knock me down, then step up. If you want some this Thursday then come out to that ring and come get yourself some because this Thursday I’m not coming to mess around. You see I heard what Mr D said, I heard that he’s going to be watching this tournament closely, I know he’s not giving me an answer on MY rematch after Flawless until he’s considered what’s happening in that ring this week, until he’s checked out the hunger and the desire that EVERYONE ELSE has to prove themselves, but don’t think for a second that that’s the only reason I’m storming into Seattle on Thursday.”

“I want my rematch. I will GET my rematch. But this tournament this week isn’t about that. This tournament this week is about so much more. This tournament this week is about LEGACY! That’s what’s on the line this week. That’s what sixty-four people are fighting tooth and nail for. This week it’s about creating a career-defining moment. This week it’s about accomplishing something that can NEVER be taken away from you. This week it’s about fighting for the right to call yourself the Best of the Best, fighting to prove you are second to NO ONE in this business. And if you think for a second that that’s not worth fighting for you’re out of your goddamn mind,” she says before laughing. “Do you want to know a behind the scenes story? Ok, I’ll tell you one. About eighteen months ago Shilo Valiant fought his final match in SCW before taking a break. I couldn’t believe he was leaving. It didn’t make any sense to me. So I talked to a few people in the back. I asked why he would step away. Now I don’t know if they heard this from him themselves, or if they were just speculating, but they told me that ‘he’s got nothing left to prove’. I remember that I laughed. You see that’s the thing about this business, there is always someone new on the scene, there is always someone hungry for the next chance, there is always an impossible new challenge to fight and an incredible mountain to overcome. In this business there is ALWAYS something to prove!”

“Three-time World Champion, two-time Women’s Champion, two-time World Tag Team Champion, record-breaking reign in EVERY division, more days holding a title in this company than most could POSSIBLY imagine — seriously, the stats are insane, even I can’t believe them sometimes — and I still have EVERYTHING to prove,” she says not angrily but proudly. “You see I hear what you guys are saying, I see the doubt in your eyes, I continue to say that I’m the best and I continue hearing a whole bunch of people vowing to prove I’m not, and that just keeps me motivated. There is ALWAYS something to prove in this business, and this Thursday night I’m going to step into the ring and show that I may have accomplished a lifetime’s worth of dreams I’m still just twenty-five years old and I’m not even half way through proving myself yet! So guys, I’ve said it already but this week it’s time to step up. This week it’s time to push yourself to your limits and beyond. This week it’s time to find out what you’re REALLY made of and to see how far you can go, because by the time this week is over there will only be four people left standing with a right to call themselves the Best of the Best and you know what, you guys? I plan to be one of them! I’ve been robbed, I’ve been beaten up, I’ve been knocked down and I’ve almost had my eyes torn out, but I’M STILL HERE, I’M STILL STANDING, and this week I’m on a mission to prove to the world that I am not just the Best Female Wrestler in the World, not just Second To No Man, but that I am the BEST OF THE BEST, and I know that you all want to prove that as well. Can I do it? I don’t know, but I’m damn sure going to find out, because this week there’s only one person in Seattle who’ll be left standing and who’ll be able to raise their arms over their head and tell fifteen others to JUST BE JEALOUS!”

She nods proudly before laughing again and turning back toward the lake again before slowly turning back to the camera. “It really is a beautiful sight, isn’t it?” she asks again before smiling once more. “It’s helped me get a little perspective. It’s helped me realise that I’ve been knocked down but instead of getting frustrated I’m simply going to get back up and once again STAND TALL!”

She blows a kiss toward the camera. “Thanks guys, see you Thursday.”

And with that the video ends and the replay button flashes up on the screen.